


Honour over Glory

by vogue91



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Imprisonment, M/M, Mercy - Freeform, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 19:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14776020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vogue91/pseuds/vogue91
Summary: Chinen walked in front of the bars.Back and forth, back and forth.He stared at the coarse stone of the floor, almost disgusted, while his ears caught a muffled lament, almost as if it had been far, and not coming from a few metres from him.





	Honour over Glory

Chinen walked in front of the bars.

Back and forth, back and forth.

He stared at the coarse stone of the floor, almost disgusted, while his ears caught a muffled lament, almost as if it had been far, and not coming from a few metres from him.

He raised his eyes, looking in front of him.

“Keep quiet.” he hissed to the boy, getting closer and looking through the bars, finding the prisoner crouched in a corner, his face hidden behind his legs.

He made an embittered sound, opening the door to the cell and kneeling in front of him, grabbing his hair, hard, and pulling for him to look him in the eyes.

“Lamenting isn’t taking you anywhere. You should just bow at my feet and thank me because you’re still alive.” he said, his voice steady, then abruptly let go of him.

The boy shut up immediately.

He kept his face held high, his eyes fixated on his gaoler, a look of pure hatred.

“What do you want from me?” he asked, low, his voice exhausted by the battle, by tiredness, by the hours of imprisonment.

He stood up, barely managing to do so, a hand over his hip, the same where a wound not deep but still painful was showing.

Chinen scoffed, shaking his head.

“It doesn’t concern you. You’ve lost, you should keep your eyes low and wait to know what your destiny is going to be.” he murmured, calm. “What’s your name?” he asked, taking in face in his hand and waiting for an answer that didn’t come.

“I’ve heard your general. He told the lot of you to kill whomever was still on the field fighting.” he said, looking almost confused. “Why am I still alive?” he asked, licking his lower lip, having trouble breathing.

Chinen hesitated at the question.

Truth was, he didn’t know why he had let him live.

He was still confused by the outcome of the battle, he had to admit that.

No one would've hoped that in the end Tokugawa’s army was going to prevail, and still they had put their faith in Ieyasu until the end, until Totoyomi’s clan had met its rout.

It was then that Chinen had seen the boy.

He was close to the enemy’s settlement, not far from the side of mount Sasao, when he had caught sight of him.

The boy had tried to fight him.

He had tried to resist, screaming his frustration for the defeat, screaming for the capture of his general, and because he was aware of what was going to be the destiny of the losing faction.

It hadn't taken long for Chinen to disarm him, even less to send him back to the ground, towering over him and aiming his shinto to his throat.

He had been about to kill him when he had looked into his eyes, just like he was doing now.

He had never been renowned for his mercy in battle, nor for his good heart which would've led him to spare a human life.

Yuri was a machine, he didn’t care about what he left behind, only about what was waiting for him once reached his goal.

But he hadn't acted.

After having thrown a revolted look at him, he had pulled on his arm, forcing him to stand, and had dragged him to Sawayama’s castle, locking him up into that cell.

He hadn't been caught yet, but he knew that soon someone was going to enter those chambers and would've seen  him, and was going to demand explanations that he didn’t have.

“How old are you?” he asked then, hoping to at least hear the answer to that, to dig under the boy’s stubbornness.

The other winced, sighing.

“I’m eighteen. And I’ve seen you kill boys much younger than me, so I don’t think it’s the reason why you didn’t kill me.” he replied, managing to look fierce despite the situation.

“You shouldn’t fight in a war.” Yuri told him then, older than him by just a few years, and in no position to tell him that.

He had started his training when he was fifteen, and it had never seemed wrong to him.

It seemed wrong, though, for the kid in front of him, it seemed that this wasn’t his place, that he had let himself be dragged into it, like many others, by ideals they didn’t really understand, by a traditionalism that had no reason to be.

“I’m in war for my country, and to defend what Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Oda Nobunaga before him have built. You all have done nothing but destroy all of that, and I’ve joined the battle to prevent you from doing so.” he explained, still trying to look dignified.

Chinen laughed.

He laughed with all his heart, he laughed despite how grotesque the circumstance was, he laughed of that thought’s immaturity.

“Your innocence had faced its death today.” he said then, crossing his arms over his chest. “It has met its death because you thought it was righteous, because you believed it was for your country and for what you believed in, and that’s where you’re wrong.” he took a deep breath, lowering his eyes on the floor. “As righteous as your cause might be, there’s nothing allowing you to seek death for a war that doesn’t belong to you.” he added, slowly stretching out a hand on him, caressing his face almost tenderly, as if pitying his destiny. “Your eyes asked me to kill you, today. And that’s why I saved you. Because it’s not fair that at eighteen you desire to die without knowing how wrong it is, how little honour there is in death, how little better your destiny would've been than being here with me now, in this prison.” he said, and took his hand off of him, feeling something inside him breaking.

It was a speech he would've gladly given to himself as well, but he already knew he wasn’t going to listen.

“But I would've been free, then. There wouldn’t have been bars restraining me, there wouldn’t have been your eyes reminding me that today I've lost.” the younger replied, less convinced than before, as if the other’s words had finally breached his confidence.

Chinen move out of the way, pointing out with a harsh movement of his arm.

“Go, then. Go away, be free and declare yourself loyal to Tokugawa Ieyasu, so that you’ll be able to live your years in peace.” he said, loud, but he calmed down right away. “But you won't, will you?” he asked, surrendered.

The other lowered his eyes, shaking his head.

“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing I've bowed down to someone I don’t recognize. And you’re a soldier like me, I’ve heard your nice words, but I know you would've done the same.” he hissed, kneeling and looking straight into the elder’s eyes. “My eyes have asked you to kill me and you’ve saved me. But there’s no salvation for me, and you know that as well. That’s why you’re hiding me. Because you know that if it won't be yours, someone else’s hand will come in its stead.” he said, calmer. “Now I’m not asking anymore. I’m begging and beseeching you. Give me the freedom I’m looking for.”

Yuri sighed heavily, still looking at him.

He envied him, somehow.

He envied his confidence, that freedom he was sure to find in death, the way he had believed till the end to be fighting for a righteous cause, and be gone for it, because that was what he had been taught.

And he would've given the same answers.

He took his hand, delicate.

Once again he made him stand, once again he looked at him.

And once again, it seemed like a far worse crime than what he had committed on the battlefield, to let those lively features  wither.

“Yamada. My name is Yamada Ryosuke.” the younger whispered, trying to hold back his tears.

Yuri nodded softly hearing his name, caught by a sudden sadness for he knew he was never going to be able to use that name.

He got closer and pressed his lips against the younger’s, without affection or understanding, just resignation.

Then he put his shinto on the floor, leaving the cell and the room.

He heard the cruel sound of the blade against the flesh, and a muffled groan.

Then nothing else.

He clenched his eyes and sighed.

Death had finally caught up with his innocence as well.

 


End file.
